Former pro road world champion arrested and sent to prison

Former world champion Romāns Vainšteins was arrested in Italy on Monday. After flying from Riga, Latvia, and arriving in Bergamo, authorities arrested him, according to delfi.lv.  After he got off the plane at the Orio al Serio airport, authorities located him and placed him in custody. The Latvian cyclist will be sent to prison for four months for not keeping up with spousal support payments. His ex-wife and daughter took the former pro to court for not paying 70,000 owed to them.

One of the greatest cyclists from Latvia

Vainšteins won the road race at the 2000 world cycling championship in Plouay, France, sprinting to victory at the end of the 268.8-km race ahead of Zbigniew Spruch and defending champion Óscar Freire. He is one of Latvia’s greatest pro road cyclists. Vainšteins, now 52, also won Milano–Sanremo, Paris–Brussels, and a stage of the Giro d’Italia. He took four stages of Tirreno–Adriatico and finished second at the Ronde van Vlaanderen.

A pro for 7 years

Romāns Vainšteins spent his professional career riding for several teams. He began with Vini Caldirola–Sidermec in 1999. He remained with the squad through 2000, the year he won the world championship. In 2001, he joined Domo–Farm Frites, where he raced for two seasons before returning to Vini Caldirola in 2003. He finished his career with Lampre.

After retiring, he began a business in Italy in 2004. However, in 2017, he returned home to Latvia to work as the coach of the Latvian national cycling team. The Cycling Federation’s council unanimously appointed Vainsteins as head coach of the men’s national team. He helped with coaching the under-23, junior, youth, and women’s teams.